Snow Job: Chank Designs Typeface at Sub-Zero Temperatures

Minnesotans in winter are a resourceful (if shivering) bunch, and type designer Chank Diesel is no exception. In February, the founder of Minneapolis-based type house Chank Company recruited groups of Minnesota State University graphic design students for an outdoor type design workshop — on a Sunday in Mankato when the temperature dipped as low as -5°F, give or take the occasional 20 mph windburst. “I figured since they were crazy enough to choose to live in Mankato in February in the first place, they’d be cool with going out in the subzero cold to draw fonts on the sidewalk,” Diesel tells us.